Proposal for donation implementation

[drjwbaker]

Following work on donation mechanisms #1457, membership #1405, and business models #1487 we propose to use this ticket to agree on implementing of donations to support our work. There are a number of strands to this work, so this is my attempt - on behalf of the Project Development Team - to pull together an actionable proposal.

1. We propose Patreon as the primary mechanism for ongoing donation, the benefit of which being that it provides a sustainable income. We propose to implement the Patreon tiers listed at Patreon #916 (comment). Once agreed these are hard to change (adjusting the tiers means cancelling ongoing donations), so we need to get this right. This is all setup and ready to go.
2. We propose Paypal as the primary mechanism for one off donations, the benefit of which is that Paypal is a widely used checkout mechanism. We will also accept bank transfer, cheque, and cash. This is all setup and ready to go.
3. We propose that parts of the site be updated to generate donations. These include:
   a) Update to https://programminghistorian.org/en/support-us listing all possible donation routes. This is ready to go in English Add donation mechanism wording #1504 and will move to translation if/when agreed.
   b) Paypal and Patreon buttons in the site footer. This has been tested DO NOT MERGE patreon test #1502
   c) Some kind of banner, perhaps as a call out on all our lesson pages, where we can display donation info and our latest campaign. This is currently the least specified part of the proposal. We'd be grateful for input from @jenniferisasi on this, and how this might fit with comms (e.g. the twitter bot)

Under our Lazy Consensus model I move that we discuss this at our next Editorial Board meeting #1483 with a view to receiving all feedback no later than 4 November 2019.

Note, I think this affects everyone in some way, so please take a look. For example:

• @jenniferisasi: this feeds into the comms strategy
• @programminghistorian/technical-team: scoping design of 3c above will involve technical time.
• @programminghistorian/french-team @programminghistorian/spanish-team @programminghistorian/english-team: editorial impacts here include workflows for copyediting English Language Copyediting #1381 using funds generated and translation labour.
• @JMParr: impact on global team relating to capacity funds will hopefully create to spend money on activities that support audiences in the global south.

[drjwbaker]

• Agree Patreon tiers Patreon #916 (comment)
• Agree Paypal use.
• Update 'support us' page.
• Add links to site.
• Look into campaign banner.

[jenniferisasi]

Thanks for taking care of placing mechanism for the project to get some funds on a regular basis.
On 3c above I have a few ideas, in order of my preference:

1. At the end of the lesson, a sentence with links along the lines of: If you liked this lesson please consider supporting the project for us to continue to publish similar work.
2. At the beginning of each lesson, similar to 1, but it will conflict (at least for me) with the banner on an available translation.
   On the twitter bot: Just add messages requesting donations or patronage in the spreadsheet and let it do the work? @walshbr I'm wondering if the more tweets we add for the bot, it will space them out too much in time? That would be my only concern on using the bot for this purpose (though we don't want to ask for money every other day either)

[drjwbaker]

Thanks for the input @jenniferisasi. I agree that more things at the top of lessons gets in the way on existing text. But I'm also keen not to bury our donation drives at the bottom. I'm wondering if it can go to the right of the peer review tick and license. We have some space there.

[walshbr]

@jenniferisasi - that sort of use of the bot has come up before. It's really not meant for such things - it works through randomization of the content in the spreadsheet. There's no feed or anything - if we wanted to regularly schedule things we should just use Tweetdeck to schedule a tweet every few months or something like that.

I think the screenshot you shared seems like a good way to do it @drjwbaker. From a web design standpoint, I think we should avoid putting more information in the footer (it's already crowded down there).

[JMParr]

Hi, All - In general, I am in support of all of James' suggestions. Not to overly complicate things, but I wondered if there was a way to also allow donors to use Venmo? The reasons I ask is that there's growing push back against PayPal here in the US for political reasons, and I know a number of people who are boycotting the platform.

…

On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 9:12 AM Brandon Walsh ***@***.***> wrote: @jenniferisasi <https://github.com/jenniferisasi> - that sort of use of the bot has come up before. It's really not meant for such things - it works through randomization of the content in the spreadsheet. There's no feed or anything - if we wanted to regularly schedule things we should just use Tweetdeck to schedule a tweet every few months or something like that. I think the screenshot you shared seems like a good way to do it @drjwbaker <https://github.com/drjwbaker>. From a web design standpoint, I think we should avoid putting more information in the footer (it's already crowded down there). — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1503?email_source=notifications&email_token=AFNO4W6LJDZCVGHKDPRKQX3QQGNNBA5CNFSM4JAQ4DZ2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOECE7C5A#issuecomment-545911156>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AFNO4WYD4G5VEZOYV65FW7LQQGNNBANCNFSM4JAQ4DZQ> .

[svmelton]

Hi all, I do love Venmo, but it's probably worth noting that they're owned by PayPal, as well. That said, if it's an easy add, it can't hurt to have multiple options. Sarah On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 1:24 PM Jessica Parr <notifications@github.com> wrote:

…

Hi, All - In general, I am in support of all of James' suggestions. Not to overly complicate things, but I wondered if there was a way to also allow donors to use Venmo? The reasons I ask is that there's growing push back against PayPal here in the US for political reasons, and I know a number of people who are boycotting the platform. On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 9:12 AM Brandon Walsh ***@***.***> wrote: > @jenniferisasi <https://github.com/jenniferisasi> - that sort of use of > the bot has come up before. It's really not meant for such things - it > works through randomization of the content in the spreadsheet. There's no > feed or anything - if we wanted to regularly schedule things we should just > use Tweetdeck to schedule a tweet every few months or something like that. > > I think the screenshot you shared seems like a good way to do it > @drjwbaker <https://github.com/drjwbaker>. From a web design standpoint, > I think we should avoid putting more information in the footer (it's > already crowded down there). > > — > You are receiving this because you were mentioned. > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > < #1503?email_source=notifications&email_token=AFNO4W6LJDZCVGHKDPRKQX3QQGNNBA5CNFSM4JAQ4DZ2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOECE7C5A#issuecomment-545911156 >, > or unsubscribe > < https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AFNO4WYD4G5VEZOYV65FW7LQQGNNBANCNFSM4JAQ4DZQ > > . > — You are receiving this because you are on a team that was mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1503?email_source=notifications&email_token=ABXFYIOUFVCQEZQ5B6IJ43DQQHR6JA5CNFSM4JAQ4DZ2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOECF7JWQ#issuecomment-546043098>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABXFYIIPH3J25ZXSYM3BGVLQQHR6JANCNFSM4JAQ4DZQ> .

[drjwbaker]

I believe Venmo is only available to those who bank in the US.

[jenniferisasi]

@drjwbaker I like the example you placed on the screenshot! I was thinking about putting it below but of course it makes much more sense there.

@walshbr right, that is why I was asking...I'll look into scheduling tweets through Tweetdeck (thanks for the tip!) once we approve the mechanisms.

And yes, as per Venmo's requirements, it is only available to US users.

[drjwbaker]

@walshbr Where can I find the file I need to edit to test putting some donate text after the CC-BY notice? (somewhere in here https://github.com/programminghistorian/jekyll/blob/gh-pages/_layouts/lesson.html maybe?)

[acrymble]

alternative possibility.

[drjwbaker]

You mean overhanging clickable banners?